To document and record all species of animals and birds recorded in the Amersham District, including Little Chalfont, Amersham, Chesham, Chenies, Latimer, Hyde Heath, Chesham Bois, Old Amersham and Shardeloes Lake

Recording Area Annual Totals

97 Species in 2013, 99 in 2012, 94 in 2011, 108 species were recorded in 2010;

Wednesday, 31 December 2014

The last three days have seen heavy
overnight frosts, with temperatures dropping down to as low as minus 8 degrees.
As a result, many of the local waters have largely frozen over, certainly in
part...

Yesterday afternoon, David Bilcock
photographed a GREAT GREY SHRIKE in bushes adjacent to the Grand Union Canal,
half way between Slapton and Grove Locks, near Whaddon Farm. There was no sign
of it today unfortunately.

DB also had a flock of 5 GOOSANDERS on
Marsworth Reservoir first thing this morning - all 5 spooking readily and
quickly moving to Wilstone, before flying off south.

I did a full inventory later in the morning,
the freezing conditions seeing a marked arrival of wildfowl, as well as an
exceptional 85 Great Crested Grebes.....

At STARTOP'S END, 1 Mute Swan (4BED), 21
Canada Geese, 26 Great Crested Grebe, 5 Little Grebe, 5 Wigeon, 3 Teal, 31
Pochard, 3 Shoveler and 198 Coot, with a few Redwing and Fieldfares feeding on
the berries on the north bank and 12 House Sparrows in conifers by the Angler's
Retreat and an additional 8 by the Wood Carving Studio.

A flock of 83 Woodpigeon was roosting in
trees at the back of TRING SEWAGE WORKS, with TRINGFORD adding 2 Great Crested
Grebe, 2 Little Egret, 9 Grey Heron, the family party of 8 Mute Swans, 24 Teal,
18 Tufted Duck, 10 Pochard, 180 Coot, 84 Black-headed Gull, an adult Common
Gull, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Song Thrush, 5 Redwing, Goldfinch and several
Common Blackbirds.

At least 124 Common Teal remained in
PITSTONE QUARRY, but little else of note in there, while SHARDELOES LAKE was 90%
frozen - 59 Coot, 8 Little Grebe, 19 Common Gull and Green Woodpecker being the
highlights.

A few images from recent days.......drake Teal, Pied Wagtail in the garden, Robin, Redwing (lots around at moment) and Fieldfare...

Thursday, 18 December 2014

A WINTER WREN visited the garden early
morning - a scarce visitor here

At COPPERKINS FARM, near Hyde Heath, 30
Fieldfare in the fields but no sign of Don's 40 or so Golden Plover
again.

SHARDELOES LAKE was partially frozen at the
island end, resulting in over 238 Black-headed and 8 Common Gulls standing on
the ice. A first-winter SHOVELER was the first of the winter but the thrushes
had largely moved on. At least 19 Little Grebe were still present, 3 Mute Swan,
just 2 Canada Geese, 4 Gadwall, 3 Tufted Duck and 38 Coot, whilst Sparrowhawk, 3
Redwing, 8 Red Kites and Grey Wagtail were all noted.

The Australian Black Swan continues to
survive on LITTLE MISSENDEN POND, with House Sparrow numbers holding up with 2
by the church, 8 in front of Highmore Cottages and a further 8 in the roadside
hedgerow just a little way further along the lane.

Not too much to find at HUNTS GREEN NATURE
RESERVE - Red Kite, Song Thrush, male Yellowhammer, 3 Linnet, 4 Long-tailed Tit,
6 Common Blackbird and a Chinese Water Deer being noteworthy. Two more Linnets
were seen at BALLINGER MEADOW.

Trawling the PEDNOR BOTTOM area, a flock of
8 Redwing in the horse paddocks by PEDNOR GRANGE were the highlight, with 2 Mute
Swans, 42 Canada Geese, Grey Heron and a Jay being seen at BURY LAKE.
Neighbouring LOWNDES PARK LAKE in CHESHAM yielded the usual wildfowl although
the fencing has clearly affected the Canada Geese - none other than the injured
bird being present. Over 85 Black-headed Gulls counted included 2 metal-ringed
individuals but just too difficult to get any details. Common Starling,
Greenfinch, Goldcrest and Song Thrush all encountered in ST MARY'S
CHURCHYARD.

All 3 Mute Swans were once again at CHESHAM
MOOR (WATERSIDE), while CHESHAM FISHING LAKES harboured a single Great Crested
Grebe, 14 Coot, 19 Tufted Duck and a single Pochard; a COMMON CHIFFCHAFF in full
song at the POW WOW LAKE was unseasonal.

Continuing up the CHESS VALLEY, all 6 Mute
Swans (family group) and 2 Coot were on BOIS MILL POND, with LATIMER'S GREAT
WATER adding 4 more Mute Swans, 34 Coot, 14 Moorhen, 5 Tufted Duck and Grey
Heron. The fields had been recently ploughed and had attracted a flock of 16
LAPWING, a Red-legged Partridge and several Stock Doves, while a COMMON
KINGFISHER was perched in front of one of the buildings at LATIMER PLACE. A
single Little Egret flew to roost, as did 2 RING-NECKED PARAKEETS.

A flock of 13 Common Starlings were in
WINCHMORE HILL, whilst PENN VILLAGE POND held 9 Moorhen and 63 Mallard, with 8
noisy House Sparrows in the evergreen opposite.

In PENN WOOD, depressing to once again find
a Holly roost devoid of any Greenfinch - just 35 Redwing; Nuthatch, Green
Woodpecker, 7 Goldcrest, Sparrowhawk, 3 Common Buzzard, Red Kite and Jay all
noted and at the Penna Rhododendron roost, just 25 Chaffinch but a December high
42 BRAMBLING roosted. At COMMON WOOD nearby, at least 32 Red Kite
roosted.

About Me

I have been birding since 1969 but became obsessed with 'twitching' in 1974 and haven't looked back since. Have driven over 1.3 million miles in pursuit of rare birds in the UK, where to date I have recorded 588 species in Britain and Ireland. I also have a fascination for the Birds of the Western Palearctic, where I have currently recorded 880 of the 1,064 species ever recorded. I am widely travelled in North America, as well as in Africa and Asia, and have written at least 29 books on my chosen subject, including best-sellers ''Ultimate Site Guide to Scarcer British Birds' and 'Rare Birds in Britain 1800-1990'. Established the UK400 Club in 1981 to cater for the most obsessive of the British birding fraternity and now concentrate on online publishing, via the www.uk400clubonline.co.uk website. Record Birding achievements include recording 386 species in Britain & Ireland in 1996 and 627+ in the Western Palearctic in 2008